Mail box

ABSTRACT

A mail box with mail pick up flag that must be in the up or &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;pick up&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; position when there is mail in the letter tray and which will tend to be in the down or &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;no mail for pick up&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; position when the letter tray is empty. The letter tray is automatically maintained out of the way when the cover of the box is opened and there is no mail for pick up.

[451 May28, 1974 Unite States Patent [1 1 Ostrom 932,453 8/1909Easterling............................. 232/34 1,891,487 12/1932 232/171,982,923 12/1934 232/17 1 MAIL BOX Wenner Nelson PrimaryExaminer-Francis K. Zugel [22] Filed:

Attorney, Agent, or FirmKenneth H. Johnson [21] Appl. No.2 365,527

[57] ABSTRACT A mail box with mail pick up flag that must be in the upor pick up position when there is mail in the letter tray and which willtend to be in the down or no [52] U.S. 232/17, 232/35 [51] Int. A47g29/12 [58] Field of Search 232/1'7, 34, 35, 33

References Cited mail for pick up position when the letter tray isUNITED STATES PATENTS empty. The letter tray is automatically maintainedout of the way when the cover of the box is opened and there is no mailfor pick up.

232/34 232/17 23 2/35 10 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures 692,178 1/1902Burnham 772,128 10/1904 Burnham 822,014 5/1906 Peterson MAIL noxBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to mail boxes. Itparticularly relates to mail boxes which are adapted to have a specialcompartment therein for mail to be picked up by the carrier and anautomatic signal associated therewith.

In rural and even suburban areas, postage deposit boxes are relativelyinconveniently or distantly located to the patron. Thus, pick up of mailby the carrier is a very important function served by the patrons mailbox. Most mail boxes are equipped with a flag or signal which whenraised will indicate to the carrier that the box contains mail to bepicked up. The problem with most of these signals is that they must beraised by the patron and can be easily knocked down. The carrier, ifthere is no mail for the box in question, will not normally check a mailbox when the signal down or not showing.

There have been prior apparatus that sought to provide a degree of failsafe character to mail box signal flag operation, however, in seekingthis desirable result, the prior art apparatus has not resulted in asimple yet substantially fail safe automatic operation of the signal.

For example, in a very early patent to Peterson, U. S.

Pat. No. 822,014 granted May 29, 1906, a mail box is equipped with apivotal letter tray which when not in use hangs down in the box from itspivotal mount. When there is mail for the carrier to pick up, the lettertray is raised and snapped into horizontal position across a portion ofthe upper area of the box, adjacent to the cover. There is a flagpivotally mounted on the exterior of the cover and rigidly connectedwith a curved rod which is inside the cover.When the letter tray is inthe up position, the curved rod strikes the tray and forces the flag up.This arrangement is inadequate for the purpose which it is intended toserve for two principal reasons. First, the signal operates when thesecond disadvantage is particularly undesirable,

since the already overburdened carrier is expected to manipulate arelatively complicated device to provide a simple service. This can be aproblem in more populous areas where rotating or substitute carriers arenot uncommon. 1

A later U. S. Pat. No. 932,453, issued Aug. 31, 1909 to Easterlingprovided a simplier mechanical operation than Petersons device, butrequired that both the patron and letter carrier set the signal flag inits appropriate position. Basicly Easterlings signal mechanism comprisesa flag with two ends, one for carrier and one for patron signaling. Theflag isrigidly mounted on a pivotal rod, which is attached on the lidadjacent to the top. One end of the rod, which is adjacent to a wirelet- 'the tray is up, not withstanding whether there is any ter rack,mounted on the internal surface of the lid, is v bent such that the bentportion is stopped against the lid in one direction when the carriersignal isup, and stopped against the lid in the other direction when thepatron signal is up. The particular signal in the up position isdetermined completely by hand and the wrong signal can just as easily beup. Letters inserted into the wire letter rack serve to prevent the rodfrom rotating from the selected position. Although the Easterlingapparatus is simple, it is little more than the ordinary signal with ameans to hold the signal in position.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly stated, the present invention providesa mail box with an essentially fail safe" system for signaling thatthere is mail in a mail tray. When there is mail in the mail tray, theflag must be in the up position in order for the cover to closeentirely. This is achieved by the mail blocking a slot in the tray,which forces a latch, which engages the slotwhen there is no mail in thetray, to remain against the cover. The latch is rigidly attached to thesignal and when the latch is forced against the cover the signal is up.When there is no mail in the letter tray the latch is weighted so thatit falls through the slot and engages the letter tray. In this mannerthe letter tray is retained against the cover when there is no mail init, out of the way of entry into the mail box proper.

Among the particular advantages and features of the present invention isthe provision of a simple arrangement of elements into an apparatuswhose use and operation is so very simple that instruction ispractically unnecessary for the mail carrier. It is this feature ofutilization by the carrier without instruction or analysis of themechanism by the carrier which makes this mail box particularlybeneficial. It is a feature of this invention that the carrier willmerely have to open the mail box as he does with conventional mailboxes. It is a particular advantage'of the present mail box that thecarrier is never required to manipulate levers, releases, catches or thelike in order to pick up mail or to deliver mail. It is a furtheradvantage of the present invention that a mail pick up flag is providedwhich will be in the pick up position when mail is in the letter trayand which will be maintained in that position without the possibility ofaccidental or inadvertant lowering of the flag prior to pick up of themail.- Another feature of the present mail box is that the letter trayis retained out of the way when there is no mail for pick up. It is aparticular feature that the letter tray is automatically retained out ofthe way and is not presented to carrier when there is no mail for pickup.

These advantages and features of the present invention, as well asothers, will become apparant from the following description of theinvention and drawings.

Like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the figuresof the drawings. The present invention will be better understood byreference to the drawings and the detailed description thereof.

DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a preferred embodiment of themail box of the present invention in an opened configuration to show thearrangement of components.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional elevation taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1with particular elements shown in a cooperative arrangement without mailfor pick up.

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional elevation taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1with the cooperative arrangement of parts shown when there is mail forpick up.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Refering to FIG. 1, all of theelements of the present apparatus can be seen. It should be appreciatedthat FIG. 1 is a display of the opened mail box and does not representan actual operating configuration. For example, in FIG. 1 signal or flag5 would fall by gravity until upper flap 6 came to rest against cover orlid 3 and latch 8 would be projecting outwardly from cover 3 by actionof gravity. The configuration shown in FIG. 1 could be obtained bymanually holding the signal 5 in thatposition or in some mannerotherwise securing it as shown. In any event, the inter relation andcooperation among the elements of the present invention can be easilydescribed from FIG. 1.

The principal element of the mail box is box or receptacle 1, to whichare attached letter, tray 14 and cover 3 by hinge 13. The hinge 13 iscomprised of tube like projections 15, 16 and 17 attached to letter tray14, cover 3, and box 1 respectively. These are aligned to allow rod 12to pass therethrough and to be seated at each end in the peripheralflange 4 of cover 3. The cover 3 will rotate about the hinge 13 as willletter tray 14.

The letter tray 14 is comprised of a bottom portion 23, a front 21 andback 22.'Located along the edge of front 21 is a lip 19. Referring toFIG. 3, the purpose of the lip 19 can be seen to be to engage the frontof box 1 in order to position the tray 14 and prevent it from fallinginto box 1. Refering back to FIG. 1, the tray 14 is conveniently formedfrom a single sheet, for example, 16 gauge sheet metal whereby the sheetis'bent to drop the bottom 23 down, and thus the front 21 and back 22will serve to maintain small quantities of mail on the tray 14 even whenit is lifted as shown in FIG. 1.

Located in the bottom 23, about midway along tray 14 is slot 18, whichis aligned with latch 8, so that the latch 8 will pass through slot 18when the cover 3 is closed on the box. The latch 8 is rigidly connectedto signal 5 by means of rod 7. The rod 7 is rotatably mounted throughopening in tab 9, which is mounted on the inner surface of cover 3 andthrough an opening (not shown) is peripheral flange 4. There is a notch2 in box 1 which allows the rod 7 to pass through. As noted above, thenormal tendency, be-

.cause of gravity, is for signal S to seat down against cover 3 thuscausing the latch 8 to project outwardly from cover 3. In this positionas the cover 3 is closed the leading edge of latch 8 will strike thefront most end of slot 18. The leading edge of latch 8 is beveled sothat as the cover 3 is lightly pressed down, the latch 8 will be forcedbackward slightly until the projection passes by the edge of slot 18 andthe latch 8 is forced back toward the front of the box as indicatedpreviously thus engaging projection 20 with bottom 23. This can be seenvery clearly in FIG. 2. The letter tray 14 is, thus held up to the cover3 when the flag 5 is In the down position.

The arrangement shown in FIG. 2 takes the tray 14 out of the way anddoes not impose any extra operation 8 unless and until the flag 5 israised from the position shown in FIG. 2, at which time the tray 14 willdisengage from latch 8.

FIG. 3 shows the flag 5 raised so that latch 8 is rotating back and upagainst cover 3. Several items of mail 11, for pick up by the carrierhave been placed letter tray 14 covering slot 18 thus when cover 3 isreturned to the closed position shown by the phantom portion of FIG. 3,latch 8 can not pass through slot 18 and tray 14 will not be engaged bythe latch. Thus, two things will occur. First the flag 5 will bemaintained in the up or mail to be picked up position and when thecarrier raises the cover 3 the letter tray 8 with the letters for pickup will be in the position shown in FIG. 3.

After the carrier has retrieved the mail from the tray 14, he need onlylift tray 14, for example by lip 19 and deposit any incoming mail intobox 1. When the cover 3 and letter tray 14 are returned to the closedposition the latch projection 20 will engage bottom 23, so that when thepatron opens his mail box the letter tray 14 is out of his way.Similarly the down position of the flag 5 will indicate that the carrierhas passed by.

The mail box of the present invention can be attached to walls, posts orthe like by holes (not shown) in the bottom or sides.

The center of gravity of the signal 5 is such that the signal tends tofall downward in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1. As noted above,this maintains the latch 8 in an engaging configuration with regard tothe tray 14. As a practical matter when cover 3 is raised beyond a lineperpendicular to the surface of the earth (lineA-B) the center ofgravity shifts and the signal 5 will fall away from cover 3 and latch 8will be disengaged from tray 14. To prevent this, thebox can be wallmounted, thus the cover can rise at most only to the wall which wouldcorrespond to line AB. Otherwise a stop such as block 24, shown in FIG.2 should be employed. Block 24 will engage the back edge of cover 3 andprevent the cover from opening past the line AB. Alternatively a chain(not shown) of predetermined length can be attached between box andcover to achieve this purpose.

It can be readily appreciated that the mail box can have other shapesthan that shown in the figures and still have the functions described,for example, the box can be rectangular, or square, and the top can berounded, etc. The mail box can be constructed of any conventionalmaterial and by conventional methods, such as sheet metal formed bybending or otherwise deforming, or from rigid polymers such as polyvinylchloride, polystyrene or the like by extrusion, vacuum forming and thelike.

In addition to changes in shape, other obvious varia tions andmodifications such as reversal of parts, can be made, e.g., positioningof the flag 5 from the right side to the left side of the box. Thesechanges are intended to be within the scope of the invention.

The invention claimed is:

1. A mail box comprising a box,

a cover for the box, hingedly mounted on said box,

a letter tray hingedly mounted within said box and to said box,

an external signal pivotally mounted on said cover,

and

means operationally associated with the signal for engaging said lettertray to said cover when said signal is down and not engaging said traywhen said signal is raised. 2. The mail box according to claim 1 whereinsaid letter tray is commonly hinged to said box and said cover.

gages said tray.

7. The mail box according to claim 5 wherein said opening is alignedwith said latch in such a manner that said latch will contact and engagethe periphery of said opening when said signal is down.

8. The mail box according to claim 6 wherein said tray comprises abottom, a front side, and a back side for forming a compartment to holdmail.

9. The mail box according to claim 8 wherein said opening comprises aslot in the bottom.

10. The mail box according to claim 9 wherein said signal comprises anelongated member having a center of gravity such that said signal tendsto remain down. a

1. A mail box comprising a box, a cover for the box, hingedly mounted onsaid box, a letter tray hingedly mounted within said box and to saidbox, an external signal pivotally mounted on said cover, and meansoperationally associated with the signal for engaging said letter trayto said cover when said signal is down and not engaging said tray whensaid signal is raised.
 2. The mail box according to claim 1 wherein saidletter tray is commonly hinged to said box and said cover.
 3. The mailbox according to claim 2 wherein said means comprises a latch forengaging said tray.
 4. The mail box according to claim 4 wherein saidlatch is rigidly connected to said signal by a rotationally mounted rod.5. The mail box according to claim 4 wherein said tray has an openingtherein operationally aligned with said latch.
 6. The mail box accordingto claim 5 wherein said latch passes through said opening and releasablyengages said tray.
 7. The mail box according to claim 5 wherein saidopening is aligned with said latch in such a manner that said latch willcontact and engage the periphery of said opening when said signal isdown.
 8. The mail box according to claim 6 wherein said tray comprises abottom, a front side, and a back side for forming a compartment to holdmail.
 9. The mail box according to claim 8 wherein said openingcomprises a slot in the bottom.
 10. The mail box according to claim 9wherein said signal comprises an elongated member having a center ofgravity such that said signal tends to remain down.